Shadow Work for the Soul: Seeing Beauty in the Dark by Mary Mueller Shutan

Author:Mary Mueller Shutan [Shutan, Mary Mueller]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Self-Help, Emotions, Body; Mind & Spirit, Inspiration & Personal Growth, Spiritual
ISBN: 9798888500149
Google: gwbREAAAQBAJ
Amazon: B0CBZ8LBC6
Publisher: Findhorn Press
Published: 2024-04-01T22:00:00+00:00

The Villain

The moral outrage that we feel against others fades as we come into contact with our own inner villain. We can move on to fully claiming our inner perpetrator, understanding that we have the capacity to harm, to abuse, and even to kill. What differentiates us from those who do such things is the conscious choices we make regarding how we act. We can harm, but we choose not to. By reclaiming both our inner victim and our inner perpetrator, we can let the victim role fade into the background.

There must be a perpetrator for there to be a victim. If there were no “bad guy” there would be no “good guy”—no divide between good/evil, moral/immoral, or just/unjust. We must work through many layers of victimhood to reach a point of seeing that we carry the villain within ourselves. We have—typically without awareness—created pain, taken power, or participated in injustice for our own benefit.

The role of the villain is the ultimate Other. We cast our darkest shadows onto it, and it is typically the last part of ourselves that we claim. It is much easier to cast our villains onto comic book characters, politicians, prisoners, and serial killers. Daily we are exposed to extreme examples of polarizing behavior in video clips and news stories. Onto them we place our darkest shadows.

To see the villain as more than a strictly evil presence in the world is to render the villain human and capable of complexity. We are all heroes and villains. We are all perpetrators and victims. When we can see this, our desire to paint the Other into a unidimensional corner ceases. Our villains are no longer strictly evil, they are nuanced, with both good and bad as well as plenty of qualities in between.

Recognizing the grey areas within us is a significant step on our path of greater self-realization and healing. Real life includes villains who may also be lover, creator, healer, explorer, provider. When we see this, the façade of the comic book supervillain releases, and we are left with humans—deeply ambiguous, unaware, mostly trying their best—and the hypocrisies they leave behind. To witness both the villain and the victim within ourselves is to fully embody both our darkness and our light.

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